President Barack Obama asked Congress Friday for $60.4 billion in federal aid for New York, New Jersey and other states hit by Superstorm Sandy in late October. Its a disaster whose cost is rivaled only by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2005 Hurricane that devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Obamas request adds a huge new to-do item to a congressional agenda already packed with controversy on how to resolve the nation's budget woes and avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

Our nation has an obligation to assist those who suffered losses and who lack adequate resources to rebuild their lives, Jeffrey D. Zients, deputy director of Obamas budget office, wrote to congressional leaders. At the same time, we are committed to ensuring federal resources are used responsibly and that the recovery effort is a shared undertaking.

The measure blends aid for homeowners, businesses, and state and local government walloped by Sandy and comes with just a few weeks to go before Congress adjourns. Whether it passes this month or gets delayed in whole or part until next year is unclear. Most of the money$47.4 billionis for immediate help for victims and other recovery and rebuilding efforts. Theres another $13 billion for mitigation efforts to protect against future storms.

Folks who had the foresight to have flood insurance when they are near the water will be largely reimbursed. Those who chose not to incur the expense of buying flood insurance will not be reimbursed. Each group made their choices—one wise and one foolish. At most, the federal government should make low interest loans available as well as the normal level of disaster assistance. I’m getting the feeling that New York and New Jersey are trying to milk this and actually make huge “profits” off of this storm.

If NY and NJ want to have all their recovery work done by overpaid union workers doing repairs as slow as they can, then the NY and NJ citizens need to be the ones to pay for it.

Federal Flood Insurance: "A maximum of $250,000 of building coverage is available for single family residential buildings. The limit for contents coverage on all residential buildings is $100,000, which is also available for renters. Commercial structures can be insured to a limit of $500,000 for the building and $500,000 for the contents. Residential Condominium buildings can be insured for their full replacement cost."

Beachfront properties in New Jersey typically sell for much more than the Federal Flood Insurance limits. So, no, many aren't fully covered even if they paid for insurance. As to how wise it was to build expensive homes that close to the ocean -- I've asked that question for years. This is not the first time that the NJ barrier islands and low-lying parts of the mainland have been flooded by a hurricane. Residents were lulled into a false sense of security by the lack of any really bad hurricanes for the last few decades.

5
posted on 12/07/2012 8:20:39 PM PST
by Sooth2222
("Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." M.Twain)

Nope! Sorry, these states voted for Obama, and the Republican Party congress controls the money. Don’t give them a dime, or perhaps take it as a bargaining chip on the current talks. Play hardball with Obama the thief.

Lived in Sea Bright from 1988 thru 1999. Our house was raised when we bought it, but most were not. We went through several big storms but our house never flooded. Everyone else was flooded and pocketed money each storm instead of raising their homes. People have rolled the dice and won for years.

Beachfront properties in New Jersey typically sell for much more than the Federal Flood Insurance limits. So, no, many aren’t fully covered even if they paid for insurance.
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For beachfront properties, much (and, frequently, most) of the selling price is for the LOCATION of the property. I’ve seen real crappy, cheaply built properties near to the ocean or gulf sell for many times what it would cost to completely raze and rebuild.

Again, let’s not subsidize those who chose to avoid the cost of paying for flood insurance—and, instead, decided to gamble that they’d never be flooded or, if they were flooded, we non ocean-front taxpayers would pay for their new replacement building.

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